From General Contracting to THRIVING Concrete Services: Lessons From a 30-Year Business: täielik transkriptsioon

were just doing small-time mom and pop stuff. 00:02:09.120 --> 00:02:16.719 Um when we got into concrete uh resurfacing and leveling and all that, that was about eight years ago now. 00:02:16.800 --> 00:02:19.520 Um and it really changed the business. 00:02:19.599 --> 00:02:24.240 Um, we went from a relatively small business to a growing business pretty quickly. 00:02:24.479 --> 00:02:25.120 That's awesome. 00:02:25.280 --> 00:02:31.439 So, what was the thought process behind uh switching and going from general contracting to resurfacing and leveling and stuff like that? 00:02:31.680 --> 00:02:41.919 Yeah, well, I mean, general contracting, you're in people's homes, you're you're doing a lot of work over a long period of time, a lot of subcontractors, permits, stuff like that. 00:02:42.000 --> 00:02:46.319 Um, we were good at it, but it is taxing and hard to make money. 00:02:46.479 --> 00:02:53.759 And kind of my dad and I were both at a point where we weren't sure we wanted to continue uh along that path. 00:02:54.080 --> 00:02:58.560 Um, so we were offered the opportunity for concrete repair. 00:02:58.639 --> 00:03:01.280 And at first we said, no, thank you for your cold call. 00:03:01.439 --> 00:03:03.199 We're we're not interested. 00:03:03.439 --> 00:03:06.560 And then a week later we were like, uh, maybe we should check that out. 00:03:06.719 --> 00:03:07.520 So yeah. 00:03:07.759 --> 00:03:08.479 Okay, cool. 00:03:08.639 --> 00:03:12.400 So, what what is that like for somebody that has no experience in the industry? 00:03:12.560 --> 00:03:14.319 What is it like, you know, learning how to do it? 00:03:14.400 --> 00:03:18.719 Is that stuff y'all kind of had done and dabbled in before in the general contract contracting space? 00:03:18.800 --> 00:03:22.800 Or did y'all have to go, you know, figure out how it all works and get licensed, or what does that look like? 00:03:23.120 --> 00:03:23.360 Right. 00:03:23.439 --> 00:03:29.439 Um, because we have a class A license um for general construction that was able to carry over. 00:03:29.520 --> 00:03:30.639 Um, so that's nice. 00:03:30.800 --> 00:03:35.360 Um, and for concrete repair, you don't really need permits. 00:03:35.599 --> 00:03:38.639 Um, you know, you you should have proper licensing. 00:03:38.800 --> 00:03:43.199 Um but uh it was an easy transition from that standpoint. 00:03:43.280 --> 00:03:52.800 And we had a lot of experience working with concrete contractors and on projects, making sure that things happened the way that we needed them to. 00:03:53.360 --> 00:04:01.599 So there was some experience there, but it was a concrete repair in and of itself is a very different industry than than pouring concrete. 00:04:01.680 --> 00:04:03.280 So bit of a learning curve. 00:04:03.360 --> 00:04:09.280 Um, we had some good mentors early on that really helped us learn and grow, and thankful for that. 00:04:09.520 --> 00:04:10.240 Yeah, for sure. 00:04:10.319 --> 00:04:14.879 So, so how did y'all go from general contracting to kind of focusing down more on this? 00:04:15.120 --> 00:04:20.560 And so, how did that kind of change the marketing and how did that change the trajectory of the business? 00:04:20.720 --> 00:04:24.879 Because you said y'all went from kind of a mom and pop to like now we are a growing business. 00:04:25.040 --> 00:04:26.959 So, what were some of the couple things? 00:04:27.120 --> 00:04:35.439 Since most people listening to this would love to be part of a growing business, you know, what were some of the things that happened when y'all made that switch that contributed to that growth? 00:04:35.759 --> 00:04:45.199 Yeah, I mean, we had a website, we were doing you know, Angie's list and home advisor, that kind of stuff made up the majority of our marketing. 00:04:45.360 --> 00:04:49.920 We were doing relatively small spends, maybe$10,000,$20,000 a year. 00:04:50.079 --> 00:04:50.240 Yeah. 00:04:50.480 --> 00:04:58.399 Um, you know, now our marketing is eight to 12%, depending on what we're doing, and new services, all that of our total budget. 00:04:58.560 --> 00:05:02.959 So, you know, the the game is definitely ramped up. 00:05:03.920 --> 00:05:09.199 You go from needing, you know, a few hundred leads a year to needing thousands. 00:05:09.680 --> 00:05:12.160 Um yeah, it's a completely different game. 00:05:12.399 --> 00:05:14.480 Um, we had to rebuild the website. 00:05:14.639 --> 00:05:28.240 That's I would say is like step number one, and then making sure you know you're on top of all the little pieces of Google, uh my business, all that kind of stuff, getting reviews, all that kind of stuff. 00:05:28.319 --> 00:05:36.560 We we maybe had 30, 40 reviews total, uh would be yeah, over you know, 25, 30 years. 00:05:36.720 --> 00:05:38.639 Yeah, yeah, for sure, you know. 00:05:38.959 --> 00:05:39.439 For sure. 00:05:39.600 --> 00:05:50.560 So so get a website, you know, pay attention to Google Business Profile, you're doing that, you'll start spending more money on ads or on marketing in general, and and then from there, uh the business just starts to grow. 00:05:50.639 --> 00:05:54.560 Did you notice anything when y'all you know started to focus kind of more on the concrete side? 00:05:54.720 --> 00:06:01.680 Did you notice anything with the word of mouth start to kind of grow because people everybody knew what you were doing exactly and it was really clear? 00:06:02.000 --> 00:06:07.199 Or were y'all just able to get a lot more bang for your buck in your advertising to grow so fast? 00:06:07.519 --> 00:06:15.040 Yeah, I mean, so having been in business already for almost 30 years, that's a pretty big leg up. 00:06:15.120 --> 00:06:20.319 Uh there are a lot of people who knew us neighborhoods who were familiar with us from other projects. 00:06:20.639 --> 00:06:21.839 Um that helped. 00:06:22.000 --> 00:06:27.519 Um, but concrete repair uh is really about educating a market. 00:06:27.680 --> 00:06:37.439 Um,

we weren't the first in in our area to do it, but um I like to think we really kind of pushed the marketing uh further on that. 00:06:37.680 --> 00:06:48.399 So, you know, working, doing some PPC, um, really working on our organic side, uh, you know, Facebook, Instagram, all that. 00:06:48.720 --> 00:06:49.120 Awesome. 00:06:49.279 --> 00:06:53.199 Was that something that y'all tried to keep in-house and learn how to do it yourselves? 00:06:53.279 --> 00:06:56.000 Or did y'all hire a marketing agency for that stuff in the beginning? 00:06:56.240 --> 00:06:57.360 What route y'all go? 00:06:57.600 --> 00:07:01.600 Um, we were connected with a marketing agency early on. 00:07:01.759 --> 00:07:07.040 Um, we've since found another one that's a little bit more aligned with what we're trying to do. 00:07:07.279 --> 00:07:14.560 Um and yeah, we the Facebook and Instagram game when we first started was a lot easier. 00:07:14.720 --> 00:07:16.160 Meta has changed some things. 00:07:16.319 --> 00:07:22.560 Um real quick, if you're a local business owner and you want to start getting customers from Google, you know how important Google reviews are. 00:07:22.720 --> 00:07:30.800 Every week I talk to business owners just like you across hundreds of industries who know reviews matter, but never seem to have the time or the system in place to actually get them. 00:07:30.959 --> 00:07:33.680 That's exactly why I've spent the last two years building Review Harvest. 00:07:33.920 --> 00:07:39.279 We built it with a non-tech savvy business owner in mind so anybody can set it up in minutes and start getting reviews today. 00:07:39.360 --> 00:07:47.040 It automates the process of getting real reviews from your customers, responding to those reviews and repurposing them across your website and across your social media platforms. 00:07:47.120 --> 00:07:48.560 It's a set it and forgive it software. 00:07:48.639 --> 00:07:52.079 You can get it all set up in about 10 minutes and you never have to worry about reviews again. 00:07:52.240 --> 00:07:55.120 We can integrate into the tools you're already using so you don't have to change a thing. 00:07:55.199 --> 00:07:58.639 You don't have to train your team on how to request reviews, you don't have to request them manually. 00:07:58.800 --> 00:08:00.399 You get customers, we get your reviews. 00:08:00.480 --> 00:08:01.120 It's simple as that. 00:08:01.279 --> 00:08:04.160 And the first play in our playbook is what we call a review reactivation. 00:08:04.319 --> 00:08:09.279 You probably have hundreds or thousands of previous customers who love your service but never left a review. 00:08:09.360 --> 00:08:15.759 So a lot of times our users can double or even triple their reviews just in the first couple months of working with us when we do that review reactivation. 00:08:16.000 --> 00:08:20.160 When that change happened, it was like our leech just plummeted. 00:08:20.399 --> 00:08:26.160 And uh now we're working with um a group that's really helping us out. 00:08:26.240 --> 00:08:32.639 Uh, we're starting to get a flow again of things that are actually turning into sales, which is the goal. 00:08:32.960 --> 00:08:33.679 Is the goal. 00:08:33.919 --> 00:08:34.799 Yeah, for sure. 00:08:34.960 --> 00:08:36.000 Well, that that's huge. 00:08:36.159 --> 00:08:40.559 Well, when it comes to you you talking about how concrete repair, a lot of it is education. 00:08:40.720 --> 00:08:47.039 So how do y'all educate your your um you know the clients that y'all work with, um, either through marketing or even on the job? 00:08:47.120 --> 00:08:51.440 Like, what do y'all do to kind of differentiate yourself from maybe the competitors? 00:08:51.759 --> 00:08:52.159 Totally. 00:08:52.320 --> 00:09:06.320 Um I mean, I don't know that we're the only ones doing this, of course, but really capturing as much uh time lapse, photos, you know, in the moment, grabbing what we can and making sure that that's highly visible. 00:09:06.480 --> 00:09:14.639 Um, and then you know, making information relevant on our website, you know, you can't just leave things anymore. 00:09:14.879 --> 00:09:18.080 Oh, we came up with a nice description, that's it. 00:09:18.320 --> 00:09:29.440 No, you know, with AI and everything, it's like if you're not always producing high value content, yeah, um you become irrelevant pretty quickly. 00:09:29.759 --> 00:09:30.559 Yeah, for sure. 00:09:30.720 --> 00:09:42.480 And then uh you're talking about like when when you are going out to do these jobs, a lot of times are are these homeowners because I'm just thinking, like, we work, I don't know if you know this, we work with like a lot of poop scoopers, right? 00:09:42.799 --> 00:09:45.919 And it's like people that pick up dog poop in people's backyards. 00:09:46.159 --> 00:09:55.279 And um, a lot of times people don't even know that service exists, they don't think that they need it, or they don't, they might not want it or need it or whatever. 00:09:55.440 --> 00:09:57.440 Um, what is it like for y'all's customers? 00:09:57.679 --> 00:10:04.639 I mean, do they see this and like, hey, I know I need my concrete repaired, or are they kind of like, hey, I need somebody to take a look at this because there's a massive crack through my driveway? 00:10:04.720 --> 00:10:05.919 Like, what is that moment like? 00:10:06.159 --> 00:10:06.480 Totally. 00:10:06.559 --> 00:10:12.720 I mean, if it's a safety concern that they have, they're probably gonna call us. 00:10:12.879 --> 00:10:13.039 Yeah. 00:10:13.279 --> 00:10:21.919 If it's a um, you know, maybe they don't know that they're actually carrying the liability in a situation if there's a problem. 00:10:22.159 --> 00:10:38.000 So we don't try to scare people, but we do try to educate the public on, you know, if it's your sidewalk and you own it and it's dangerous, you know, that is something you should maybe consider fixing before it turns into something very unpleasant.

00:10:38.159 --> 00:10:44.159 Um, and then how do a lot of these problems happen over time. 00:10:44.320 --> 00:10:52.320 So it's not like you just look out one day and oh, my my concrete's forcing water towards my house and it's destroying my foundation. 00:10:52.639 --> 00:11:11.440 You know, these things happen slowly, but educating them on if water is running towards your house, you know, and you have the ability to change that slope and get water away, um, then that's where we can not only fix a problem, but we can save you a lot of money down the road, making sure you don't have more issues. 00:11:11.679 --> 00:11:11.840 Yeah. 00:11:12.159 --> 00:11:12.879 Yeah, gotcha. 00:11:13.200 --> 00:11:20.639 What are some like kind of preventative measures that y'all can take um at a home to maybe protect the foundation or the driveway and stuff like that? 00:11:20.879 --> 00:11:21.360 Yeah. 00:11:21.519 --> 00:11:30.639 Um, so the concrete leveling is really about you know, changing slope, making sure that we know where the water is going now and where we want it to end up. 00:11:30.720 --> 00:11:34.720 And it's important to know if it's feasible to do that while lifting concrete. 00:11:34.879 --> 00:11:44.639 I mean, we also pour concrete, we do crawl space uh work, we do waterproofing work, drainage, you know, soil spreading. 00:11:44.879 --> 00:11:56.799 So we started out just in one thing, and because they're all so connected, uh, we're really trying to give people as much as we can an actual solution to a problem, not a band-aid. 00:11:57.279 --> 00:11:58.639 Yeah, yeah, for sure. 00:11:58.799 --> 00:12:03.279 Well, and for anybody who doesn't know, like mainly people listening to this own home service businesses. 00:12:03.360 --> 00:12:08.159 I don't think we have a very big concrete or resurfacing or leveling audience, to be honest. 00:12:08.320 --> 00:12:10.879 But um, for anybody to know, how do you even lift concrete? 00:12:10.960 --> 00:12:14.879 I've seen the videos and stuff before, or like like what is that process like? 00:12:15.360 --> 00:12:17.519 Yeah, it's a a two-part foam. 00:12:17.600 --> 00:12:23.519 So, like even the the chair you're sitting on, if it has a cushion, is probably a two-part foam. 00:12:23.679 --> 00:12:24.000 Okay. 00:12:24.159 --> 00:12:26.399 Um, so it's polyurethane based. 00:12:26.559 --> 00:12:32.720 And when you mix uh an A and an R side, um, the R side is what's engineered. 00:12:32.799 --> 00:12:38.720 Uh so the A side is universal to all foam, the foam behind you to absorb sound, that's in everything. 00:12:38.799 --> 00:12:43.759 Uh and then the R side is what gives it properties. 00:12:43.840 --> 00:12:48.879 So the foam we're using is hydrophobic, meaning it can just push water out of the way. 00:12:49.200 --> 00:12:57.279 Um it spreads at a predictive rate so we know how far it's gonna go and then how much it can lift. 00:12:57.440 --> 00:13:08.159 So it's drilling holes, injecting with a gun these two liquids, and they mix right at the point of injection, and then they expand and they lift the concrete up. 00:13:08.320 --> 00:13:10.080 It does, it's kind of like magic. 00:13:10.240 --> 00:13:13.919 Uh that's awesome. 00:13:14.159 --> 00:13:17.679 Um, yeah, I know I've seen the videos, and I'm like, what the heck is going on? 00:13:17.759 --> 00:13:23.360 Because my little brain is just like big concrete, big concrete heavy, you know, can't move, you know. 00:13:24.080 --> 00:13:25.200 So that's incredible. 00:13:25.279 --> 00:13:29.759 That is you know, foam that powerful that's gonna you know lift a whole the whole surface. 00:13:30.080 --> 00:13:36.960 We've lifted like chimneys, you know, in the middle of somebody's house, just picking up their whole fireplace and chimney. 00:13:37.039 --> 00:13:41.440 We've lifted slabs with cars on top when people forget to move their vehicles. 00:13:41.519 --> 00:13:43.279 We're like, can we just lift it anyway? 00:13:43.440 --> 00:13:43.840 Sure. 00:13:44.240 --> 00:13:46.399 Yeah, that's incredible. 00:13:46.639 --> 00:13:53.679 Um, well, what are some things that y'all y'all try and do to kind of go above and beyond for your your your customers and provide an exceptional experience? 00:13:53.759 --> 00:13:58.159 Because I mean you can see just based off reading some of y'all's reviews, like customers rave about y'all. 00:13:58.240 --> 00:14:00.879 So um, yeah, how do y'all try and go above and beyond? 00:14:01.200 --> 00:14:15.200 Yeah, I think it's a couple of things, being very intentional with everybody on staff, um, that this is the way that we communicate and we try to communicate basically to the point where it's just a little annoying. 00:14:15.360 --> 00:14:15.600 Yeah. 00:14:16.159 --> 00:14:16.559 Yep, yep. 00:14:16.879 --> 00:14:20.399 I think that's become industry or everybody's standard, really. 00:14:20.480 --> 00:14:23.120 If you're not doing that, you're probably under communicating. 00:14:23.279 --> 00:14:23.600 Yeah. 00:14:23.759 --> 00:14:31.600 Um and then, you know, resolving issues because you can't do everything perfect all the time. 00:14:31.840 --> 00:14:35.360 It's really about can you show compassion to people? 00:14:35.679 --> 00:14:37.440 Can you own the gray areas? 00:14:37.519 --> 00:14:38.960 Uh, that's a big thing for us. 00:14:39.120 --> 00:14:53.360 Like if you're a business owner and you're helping out a homeowner, their ability to solve a problem, if it's a gray area and our ability to solve it, we have a much higher capability of fixing that gray area. 00:14:53.519 --> 00:14:55.440 So we try to do things like that. 00:14:55.679 --> 00:14:56.480 Dude, that's huge. 00:14:56.559 --> 00:14:59.679 That's something I've never I've never heard anybody explain it that way. 00:14:59.840 --> 00:15:02.399 But it's so true, not and I mean, not just in home service. 00:15:02.480 --> 00:15:06.639 I think it's the same way for marketing companies working with local

business owners. 00:15:06.720 --> 00:15:10.240 As like, that's where my experience is, there is a lot of gray area. 00:15:10.320 --> 00:15:22.080 We're like, yes, like we we have it's our duty and responsibility to inform to the fact that yes, this might be a great strategy, but here's kind of like the downsides to what could happen because of this, right? 00:15:22.240 --> 00:15:30.960 Um, and and kind of saying, you know, here's some of the downstream effects of it because it's really hard for local business owners and probably homeowners as well to know direct cause and effect, right? 00:15:31.039 --> 00:15:33.200 They just see, oh, now this is happening over here. 00:15:33.360 --> 00:15:35.759 They might not think that that was from the concrete two months ago. 00:15:35.840 --> 00:15:36.720 I'm not saying that's what it is. 00:15:37.360 --> 00:15:39.600 It's like the great the gray areas there. 00:15:39.679 --> 00:15:47.840 Um, that's a great, I like that, owning the gray areas because that creates a great customer experience, um, even even if they don't even know that you're doing it. 00:15:47.919 --> 00:15:48.639 You know what I'm saying? 00:15:48.799 --> 00:15:54.720 Like you're taking responsibility and you're taking that even for something that you know might not be an issue, um, or you might not even share with them. 00:15:54.799 --> 00:15:55.759 So that's that's incredible. 00:15:55.919 --> 00:16:01.840 But yeah, so y'all, y'all have been working with Review Harvest for a couple months now, y'all connected through through a mutual friend. 00:16:02.000 --> 00:16:04.000 What has your experience been like so far? 00:16:04.240 --> 00:16:05.039 Fantastic. 00:16:05.200 --> 00:16:22.000 Um, so we've tried other things before, but the simplicity and of how you all set everything up and then the delivery of what it looks like, what it feels like on the other side, you know, I think that has a really exceptional impact. 00:16:22.240 --> 00:16:30.080 Um, you know, we we were getting a lot of surveys back um before. 00:16:30.240 --> 00:16:33.759 Like we worked with a company that specialized in surveys. 00:16:33.919 --> 00:16:40.639 Yeah, and that was really great for internal information, but it really wasn't helping us grow as a business. 00:16:40.799 --> 00:16:44.639 Um I wouldn't have trade some of that information. 00:16:44.799 --> 00:16:54.399 Um I think if you can get some really good surveying done as a business, um, because sometimes people don't tell you what's wrong. 00:16:54.480 --> 00:16:57.759 They either it's either one extreme or the other. 00:16:58.000 --> 00:17:02.000 Um and that information in the middle can be vital. 00:17:02.399 --> 00:17:02.879 For sure. 00:17:03.039 --> 00:17:03.679 Oh, 100%. 00:17:04.160 --> 00:17:04.559 100%. 00:17:04.880 --> 00:17:10.160 And I think what's tricky is basically balancing what is most important at the time. 00:17:10.319 --> 00:17:13.200 Um, it's something that we've talked about a lot internally. 00:17:13.279 --> 00:17:17.920 It's like, should we offer because we we kind of lead from the reviews and the marketing perspective, right? 00:17:18.000 --> 00:17:21.359 We want all these happy customers to get you more happy customers because you're right. 00:17:22.559 --> 00:17:28.799 And I think across both profiles, you've gotten about 30 or 40 or 50 reviews on each profile, something in that ballpark in the last couple of years. 00:17:28.960 --> 00:17:29.599 Yeah, two months. 00:17:29.680 --> 00:17:30.559 I mean, thrilled. 00:17:30.960 --> 00:17:40.480 Yeah, yeah, no, so it's it's been good, but but I do think it's like you have to figure out like whatever you put first is gonna be the one that's gonna take priority and really, really get the most amount of conversions. 00:17:40.559 --> 00:17:47.519 Because anytime you're asking customers to do stuff, the first time you ask them is probably gonna be like if you're asking them to do one thing, like, okay, some people are gonna do it. 00:17:47.680 --> 00:17:51.680 If you ask them to do two things, then you're like, oh, you're not gonna get a lot of people to do the second thing, you know. 00:17:51.759 --> 00:18:01.440 And so playing with the or playing with the order, and and maybe that's something we should implement, maybe given an NPS or something on the back end after they left a review, or or to people that don't leave a review. 00:18:01.599 --> 00:18:08.480 Um, but but yeah, that getting that public feedback on Google to get you more customers can be you know super duper valuable. 00:18:08.799 --> 00:18:12.799 I mean, direct impact to our organic leads booked. 00:18:12.960 --> 00:18:15.519 When the reviews go up, we we get more leads. 00:18:15.680 --> 00:18:16.880 I mean, it's amazing. 00:18:17.039 --> 00:18:17.920 It's undeniable. 00:18:18.319 --> 00:18:19.359 Yeah, no, that's amazing. 00:18:19.440 --> 00:18:21.039 It's something that a lot of business owners don't know. 00:18:21.119 --> 00:18:24.799 They don't know the correlation between the reviews um and ranking higher on Google. 00:18:24.880 --> 00:18:31.920 And actually, they just did an update on kind of what does 2025, 2026 look like for a ranking report, and reviews just went up. 00:18:32.000 --> 00:18:38.880 Like it was 16% overall weighted across all the 150 factors last year, and it was 21% this year. 00:18:38.960 --> 00:18:41.200 Um, and so it's gotten even more important. 00:18:41.279 --> 00:18:47.279 And 21% for one thing in an algorithm with 150 factors is incredible weight. 00:18:47.440 --> 00:18:50.319 And so um, it's great to hear that y'all's leads go up from reviews. 00:18:50.400 --> 00:18:52.880 I'd love to hear that on a video because I'm like, all right, sweet, clip that. 00:18:52.960 --> 00:18:55.599 You know, send that to everybody who doesn't believe reviews matter. 00:18:56.079 --> 00:19:02.640 I wish I could send everybody to the report, but when you track it every month, I mean it's it's clear.

00:19:02.960 --> 00:19:04.319 Yeah, that's incredible. 00:19:04.559 --> 00:19:06.960 Well, what are y'all's plans for augur construction? 00:19:07.039 --> 00:19:08.960 Like what does 2026 look like for y'all? 00:19:09.039 --> 00:19:10.960 What are some of the next big steps? 00:19:11.279 --> 00:19:15.279 Yeah, so we're we are adding a couple of services um in 2026. 00:19:15.440 --> 00:19:18.400 We just got started in crawl space and waterproofing. 00:19:18.559 --> 00:19:22.400 Um done a few jobs, but that's a big area of growth. 00:19:22.480 --> 00:19:27.519 Um, I haven't connected with you yet on setting that up for we will be doing that. 00:19:27.759 --> 00:19:38.319 Um and then uh we do a product called VUBA Stone, which is a crushed marble overlay that you put over top of concrete, um, or you can do it by itself. 00:19:38.480 --> 00:19:40.880 It's uh super permeable. 00:19:41.200 --> 00:19:42.720 Anyway, cool product. 00:19:42.960 --> 00:19:50.000 Um but there's also a rubber product that uh acts kind of the same way, but you can cover almost anything with it. 00:19:50.160 --> 00:19:59.599 Um pool decks, pavers, whatever, and it creates a nice, you know, cushy surface, um, looks great. 00:19:59.839 --> 00:20:02.559 And yeah, we'll add that to the arsenal. 00:20:02.640 --> 00:20:03.759 Um that's awesome. 00:20:03.839 --> 00:20:05.759 So, what is what is that called, you said? 00:20:06.079 --> 00:20:11.440 Uh Rubberstone is the new one we're adding, and then VUBA Stone is the crushed marble. 00:20:11.680 --> 00:20:19.680 Hey, real quick, before we get back to the video, if you're a local business owner and you're serious about getting more customers from Google, I want to invite you to our free school community link down below. 00:20:19.839 --> 00:20:23.359 Inside, you'll get weekly coaching calls where I can personally help you one-on-one. 00:20:23.759 --> 00:20:26.480 You're never stuck wondering what to do next to get more customers. 00:20:26.640 --> 00:20:34.160 Once you join, we'll give you a custom-built ranking report to show you exactly how you're ranking against your competitors, and then we'll even show you the next couple things you can do to start ranking higher. 00:20:34.319 --> 00:20:36.480 We do all of these reports manually to make sure they're done high. 00:20:36.559 --> 00:20:47.200 You'll get a 50,000 Google review script, the same script we've used to help hundreds of businesses get over 50,000 reviews, showing you what to say, when to request a review, how to follow up and get that review without being annoying. 00:20:47.680 --> 00:20:52.960 And you'll even get a step-by-step checklist of how to put your Google Business profile to make sure you're ranking at the top of Google. 00:20:53.200 --> 00:20:58.799 Sometimes making a few tweaks on that Google Business profile can be the difference between never showing up on Google and dominating your area. 00:20:58.960 --> 00:21:03.279 All of them, you'll get access to a community

of business owners and experts trying to grow their business just like you. 00:21:03.440 --> 00:21:06.640 It's a safe space to ask questions and get more tailored one-on-one advice. 00:21:06.799 --> 00:21:07.680 It's 100% free. 00:21:07.759 --> 00:21:09.759 I don't have a coaching program or a course to sell you. 00:21:09.839 --> 00:21:11.920 Just click the link down below, join the community. 00:21:12.000 --> 00:21:13.119 We'd love to see you inside. 00:21:13.279 --> 00:21:14.240 Okay, that's really cool. 00:21:14.400 --> 00:21:17.680 And how does that kind of compare to like the epoxy coding side of things? 00:21:19.200 --> 00:21:20.240 It's rather different. 00:21:20.480 --> 00:21:28.000 Um, so we don't really use epoxy um on exterior stuff because it it has a tendency to yellow. 00:21:28.160 --> 00:21:28.400 Yeah. 00:21:28.880 --> 00:21:32.880 So whenever you use epoxy outside, you have to cover it with something else. 00:21:33.119 --> 00:21:33.359 Yeah. 00:21:33.680 --> 00:21:39.839 So this is a resin that's it's a polyurethane resin, but it's UV stable. 00:21:39.920 --> 00:21:47.519 Um it's it gets kind of technical, but yeah, it's really it's rated really, really well for exterior use. 00:21:47.839 --> 00:21:48.000 Okay. 00:21:48.559 --> 00:21:58.960 So it works great for when people don't want to pour new concrete, but they want it to look brand new and functionally have better attributes than concrete. 00:21:59.279 --> 00:21:59.759 It's a great. 00:22:00.319 --> 00:22:28.880 product okay that's awesome and how how have y'all basically gone through the decision making process of of adding more services I think we see it we see it on most of the time we see we talk to business owners who personally feel like they're doing too much right but then I do see businesses who are very optimized make tons of money and they've strategically added different services services right so how did y'all basically go through the process of saying hey we're gonna add X, Y, and Z. 00:22:29.359 --> 00:22:44.319 Yeah um gaps in either customer needs that we can fulfill um you know I I think the hardest part of adding a new service is how are you going to build the team? 00:22:44.799 --> 00:22:45.119 Right? 00:22:45.440 --> 00:22:56.960 So for sales it's not terribly hard to add on another product but for install crews in the construction space getting another crew up and running is definitely difficult. 00:22:57.200 --> 00:23:20.559 So I usually look at where's overlap like is there a crew that's underutilized where we can use them for both for a little while and then kind of train a new crew into existence or sometimes contract labor if we have really good relationships with uh independent contractors that sometimes we say can you do this with us for a year or two? 00:23:20.720 --> 00:23:26.880 We'll have somebody on site representing us always and you know then kind of grow. 00:23:28.000 --> 00:23:40.079 But I would say like scaling too quickly on anything or adding new services is pretty dangerous if you're not at a point where you can protect your bottom line. 00:23:41.200 --> 00:23:48.000 So we made that mistake kind of early we we tried to scale a little too fast it nearly killed us. 00:23:48.880 --> 00:24:09.519 But I think we've gotten to a point where we're understanding now better like how do you manage actually to a budget not just hoping yeah and now that we're there we're we're adding more based on like crawl space and waterproofing every time it rained outside we're like oh crap we can't do anything. 00:24:09.680 --> 00:24:33.279 Yeah it just made sense to add a service where the phone rings when it rains yeah yeah for sure for sure yeah no it makes so much sense there's so many uh pressure washing or um exterior cleaning companies up north that do Christmas lights all when you know do Christmas lights because it's like I've got a full team of people with ladders and vans and trucks and we can keep them busy with Christmas lights. 00:24:33.759 --> 00:24:37.599 And so people have like found a good a good a good way to manage that there. 00:24:38.160 --> 00:24:39.279 So yeah that's super interesting. 00:24:39.359 --> 00:24:44.559 It's like you said earlier too I meant to touch on it about how like you're maybe it communicates just a little bit too much. 00:24:45.039 --> 00:24:46.160 Like we're the same way. 00:24:46.240 --> 00:25:13.680 It's like we we we kind of say if we don't get at least like one person a month that was like wow you really texted me a lot before this meeting then we're probably not texting enough you know um or texting or emailing enough because we we definitely struggle with like the show up rates and stuff like that for us our business personally but um but yeah just I think keeping the customer in the know and never having them in no man's land is so important especially in the home service industry when you especially when you do big jobs like y'all. 00:25:13.920 --> 00:25:18.079 Yeah the worst thing they could say about us is that we're annoying. 00:25:18.960 --> 00:25:25.440 You know but if you don't communicate and then somebody shows up or catches them by surprise they're way more annoyed at that. 00:25:25.680 --> 00:25:35.119 Yeah yeah yeah for sure that earns a negative that earns maybe a a one star review if they you know they have they have no idea what's going on and they feel like they are shafted or something. 00:25:35.279 --> 00:25:36.799 So um that's really good. 00:25:36.960 --> 00:25:54.960 Well we you know like I said mainly home service business owners listening to this wanting to grow their business so I always like to kind of end off with maybe one piece of advice you might have for somebody who is trying to grow their business maybe maybe they've been hitting some roadblocks um and and they're really looking to hit it big in 2026 and have a big good year. 00:25:55.599 --> 00:26:36.960 What would you tell them to focus on and and do to kind of

get through this time there's maybe two things I would say like for the longest time we had issues with our accounting right where we did our best we we tried to enter everything in correctly but we weren't on accrual or anything that really showed us what's happening every month what are we actually making you know where's this money ending up job costing that kind of stuff yeah I would say that that's always worth the investment if you're not sure you have great financials I that to me is probably the first thing. 00:26:38.400 --> 00:26:46.559 And then we use EOS um to run our business and entrepreneurial operating system for those who don't know. 00:26:46.880 --> 00:26:48.880 But I don't know that you have to use that one. 00:26:49.039 --> 00:27:20.960 We really like it but having some sort of structure where you have regular meetings as a leadership team even if it's not that many people and being sure that you're communicating everything throughout the company clearly really makes people feel like they're working at a place where they can be invested and they have a future and just being clear and kind always through that I think makes a big difference. 00:27:21.279 --> 00:27:23.119 Yeah no for sure that's great. 00:27:23.279 --> 00:29:41.759 I think that's like so much of that is part of like becoming a mature business you know I feel like I feel like I know that I've still struggled with and still struggle and I feel like you know a lot a lot of people in the home service space struggle with the fact like yeah you know I got like a high paying job you know like I but if I'm if I'm gone like nothing's happening it doesn't feel like a real business right you just kind of feel like uh a you know a monkey with eight hands doing all the different things and you know there's not real processes and stuff in place and it's like um you know make you know solidifying things to become hey we got a cadence of meetings we've got a cadence for reporting we got we we we know how to do our numbers and our books and all that sort of stuff like I can always tell like people like bigger businesses especially businesses that do bigger jobs and stuff they mentioned like job costing and accrual accounting and stuff and like ever and like myself I'm like oh geez I can't even start to think about that but I know that other people are listening and relating to that so um that's to be fair I don't do any of that yeah it's finding people that you know for a little while we had an in-house accountant we couldn't really afford that so like finding a good option to get those things done clear good reporting doesn't have to be super expensive um yeah but it really at least in terms of our growth and everything we would be lost without it we probably would have gone out of business to be honest yeah it just it gives you clear insight and data as to what you can and can't do you know it's like here's where we're at this is this is the truth not just what's went out last month and what came in you know because that's that can be misleading I know I've been going off of the what got what went out and what came in business but um but we we we don't have a lot we're a software company we don't have a lot of stuff so it's not too much of a concern but anyways well Steven this was great to have you on uh where's the best place if somebody is in uh you know the Virginia area or they just want to reach out to you where's the best place for people to get in touch with y'all yeah yeah you can call our office we have excellent people who are happy to talk to you on the phone um it's 804-405-3304 um and then you can also email us at info at augburn ogburn c own awesome sweet and we'll have your website and stuff linked down below in the description to make that easy if people want to go straight to the site. 00:29:42.160 --> 00:29:48.720 But yeah Steven this was great thanks so much for hopping on and uh enjoy the rest of your day thank you Clay really appreciate it